United Spirits Ltd is the best performing international stock

Mumbai, Dec 31 () : Vijay Mallya is not out of reckoning as Bloomberg rated United Spirits Ltd as the best performing international stock in a global index this year.

In November it came out of the red after a majority stake sale to DiageoPlc.

MSCI ACWI index which puts India’s weight of the 2,443 international stocks of emerging markets is less than 1%. However, it rated UB as the best performing international stock in a global index this year.

The United Spirits rating showcases the performance of the Indian stock market. Despite economic slowdown and globally under-performing stock markets,India’s Sensex index on BSE Ltd gained 26% this year.

This achievement comes in the backdrop of GARR seen to scare away the foreign institutional investors (FIIs), the main investors in Indian equities but still it continued to invest in Indian equity markets.

As on Dec 28, FII investments stood at $23.3 billion (nearly Rs. 1.28 trillion) the second highest since 1993.

CCL International Ltd surged 820% among Indian stocks but like United Spirits has rallied nearly 290% is not a global stock.

Royal Challenge and McDowell’s No.1 whiskies and Romanov vodka are the brands of UB. It has a total debt of Rs. 22,999.11 crore as of 31 March,2012. Four out of five brands of United Spirits are on top of alcoholic beverages in India.

Whyte and Mackay, a global arm of UB in the second half of fiscal 2012, also contributed to the stock performance. The spirits company has borrowed Rs. 400 crore since April. As on 31st March, its consolidated long-term borrowings were Rs. 5,390 crore.

The revival of Kingfisher by UB Group was another concern but United Spirits stock at Rs. 1,440 a share was bought by Diaego and on Friday on BSE it stood at Rs 1,899.05 a share.